Letter Peddler Press

Описание: Here is Letter Peddler Press, my portable letterpress printing studio. The studio is designed to hook onto the rear pannier rack of a bicycle (or in this case, my non-bicycle stand). At 48 lbs, and 20" x 20" x 20" in its carrying case, it has also been designed to be transportable as regular luggage on an airplane, allowing for its appearance at the 2017 Edition Toronto Art Book Fair.

Letter Peddler Press was first conceived for the Winnipeg Design Festival in 2015, in partnership with Martha Street Studio, but since then I have continued to evolve the setup and have kept using it to bring postcard printing out of the studio and into the public realm.

The blocks are laser cut bamboo cutting boards from Ikea, and perform wonderfully as a material. They are intentionally engraved shallow to allow the grain of the bamboo to show through.

The press is custom built by Gary McLachlan, and is constructed using repurposed xray machine parts. It is designed for type high, without a composing chase, but the composing chase allows for the shorter bamboo blocks. The paper gripper is designed based on the Line-o-Scribe 711 press.

The ink I am using is Caligo Safe Wash Ink by Cranfield Colours, which performs wonderfully, and allows for just water washup in whatever sink I am near, and allows for no chemicals in any part of the process. There is a little bottle of Sunlight dish soap to help with washup, but is rarely used.